Cocoon is an hour-long TV special brought to us by a slew of ex-Ghibli animators and a director who’s worked extensively with Naoko Yamada, and boy does that show in the final product. The Ghibli roots are quite apparent in the character designs and color direction, though it is still a TV special so it has a bit more wonkiness to it than your average Ghibli film, and Yukimitsu Ina’s directorial work is riveting, efficient, and impacting, along with having one of the most twisted visual connections you could possibly draw to Yamada that I won’t be discussing further for spoiler reasons. This next partmight be the most obvious take I’ve ever had, but Kensuke Ushio is easily the best soundtrack composer in the modern anime industry. While his work here isn’t standout compared to previous scores, his minimalist style fits the tone of the story perfectly, punctuating the most emotional moments to truly drag your heart down into the depths of terror and despair.
The first half does an incredible job of setting up the general character dynamics of the main cast, especially that between San and Mayu, with a well fleshed-out, though admittedly very obvious metaphor about cocoons tying the thematic conflict within San’s character to the main plot, and with the story set at the end of WWII, watching a group of civilian teenagers struggle between desperate survival and resigned defeatism made for an intensely gripping and gut-wrenching second half. Though a tad unpolished in some areas, its dramatic core remains strong throughout and even managed to get me choked up at its climax, reminding us that even in our darkest moments, we still have a choice.